Bud Hinkle, former IBC chief executive, dies at 101

KANSAS CITY — B.J. (Bud) Hinkle, who helped Interstate Bakeries Corp. navigate a period of turmoil in the 1970s and served as chairman of the American Bakers Association in the 1980s, died June 9 at the age of 101.

Born July 21, 1922, in Springfield, Mo., Hinkle’s family moved when he was four to Kansas City, where his father became foreman in the Sheffield Steel Corp. mill. After graduating from Northeast High School in 1939, Hinkle worked for a few years before joining the US Army in 1942.

He was assigned to the Medical Corps as an aidman and was on a ship to England on his 21st birthday in 1943. He spent most of the war in Europe, rising to sergeant in a medical unit. He spent time in France and Germany with the 9th Air Force. He was awarded three Bronze Stars. After his discharge in December 1945, Hinkle entered the University of Kansas, graduating in 1949 with a degree in accounting and business.

Hinkle began his professional career holding positions at Standard Register Co. and then at the Claycomo, Mo., plant of Ford Motor Co., which was manufacturing wings for B-47 Bombers for the Korean War. An associate from Ford had joined Interstate Brands Corp. to establish a cost control department and recommended Hinkle to the company. He joined Interstate Brands in 1955 as manager of systems and procedures, largely focusing on cost controls and accounting.

He was named assistant treasurer in 1963, elected treasurer in 1970 and rose quickly in the years that followed to vice president of finance in 1971, executive vice president and chief operating officer in 1972 and president and chief executive officer in 1973. He became chairman in 1977. He retired in 1984.

While holding a top position at IBC, the company was the target of a hostile takeover in 1975 by DPF Inc., a computer leasing company. Hinkle opposed the takeover but remained a top executive at IBC and a board member of the new parent company after DPF was successful in its bid. As computer leasing flagged, DPF shed the business and renamed the corporation Interstate Bakeries Corp.

Hinkle was elected chair of the ABA for 1981-82, leading the organization through a restructuring effected through a bylaws revisions. Driven by a study conducted by Arthur Young & Company, Hinkle said in a 1981 interview the effort reaffirmed the primary function of the ABA should be the representation of wholesale baking in Washington.

Also in the interview, he said baking managers were learning to cope with inflation that had been raging at the time. While chairman of the ABA, Hinkle was a member of the Wheat Industry Council and said the association’s role was to be as supportive as possible of the Council’s programs. He was chairman of the WIC, an effort that included wheat producers and bakers, six years later when the program was terminated. Hinkle was lauded for the statesmanlike manner in which he worked to wind the program down.

Hinkle was preceded in death in 2014 by his wife of 59 years, Margaret Ann Hinkle. He is survived by three children, Susan Costello (Joe) of Venice, Fla., David Hinkle (Angela) of Overland Park, Kan., and James Hinkle (Susie) of Golden, Colo.; five grandchildren, Katie Schafer (Brendan), Bobby Costello, Alex Hinkle, Drew Hinkle (Daphne) and Will Hinkle; and two great grandchildren, Henry and Owen Schafer.

 Funeral service will be held at the Langsford Funeral Home 115 SW 3rd St Lee’s Summit, Mo., on June 22. Visitation will be at 10 a.m. with service following at 11. Interment will follow at the Lee’s Summit Historical Cemetery, 806 SE 3rd St, Lee’s Summit, Mo.

 In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Harrington Holloway Educational Foundation Inc, P.O. Box 7272, Kansas City, MO 64113.